SQL Server


Visual Studio Team Services Stops Twice

When your goal is 99.999-percent uptime, there's a small crack in the window for downtime. That happened with Visual Studio Team Services last week. And it happened within a span of two days.

UI, Performance Tweaked in Azure SDK 2.8.2 for Visual Studio 2015

Lots of user feedback-related improvements will make this incremental release easier for developers who want to make the cloud connection.

End of Extended Support for Some .NET Framework, SQL Server Versions

Security risks will be a major concern for companies using some versions of .NET Framework and SQL Server after extended support ends some time this year.

Performance, Scalability Improved in SQL Server 2012 SP3

Latest service pack comes more than a year after the last service pack, and also adds a number of enhanced monitoring capabilities.

SQL Server 2016 Breaks Out

Microsoft reveals a community technology preview of the venerable RDBMS that sports Always Encrypted technology and built-in R language services, among other features. Also in preview: Azure Data Lake Store and Analytics Services and Azure SQL Database In-Memory OLTP and Operational Analytics.

An Intern Battles the Monster App

What Martin wanted was to fulfill his internship requirement for his degree and possibly earn a little spending money for his efforts. He got both of these and the experience of meeting "The Monster."

Entity Framework 7 Beta 6 Out in Preview

EF7 Beta 6 adds data annotations, customization of reverse engineer via templates, and support for raw SQL commands.

Why I'm Excited About DocumentDB

DocumentDB brings together the best of No-SQL and the cloud, to give you a robust scalable data persistence engine. Here's what you need to know to start developing projects with it.

Tips for Snagging That Senior Developer Job

You're vying for a senior developer position. Here's what you need to know to win over your interviewer.

Speed Up Stored Procedures with Table Valued Parameters

Peter revisits an earlier tip on how to use stored procedures to speed up your code. This version makes your stored procedures simpler … though you may have to write a little more code to make the call.

Leveraging Custom ASP.NET MVC Templates to Support Real-World Views

In the real world, you'll often need to display constant and repeating data, a.k.a. Master/Detail pages. Custom templates are the cleanest, simplest way for you to manage them.

The Danger of Received Wisdom (or, Stupid Things I've Said)

Peter reviews some of the more spectacularly incorrect things he's told other people and then draws some conclusions.

'Always Encrypted' Leads New SQL Server 2016 Features

Microsoft said a new Always Encrypted security feature highlights its upcoming SQL Server 2016 -- "the biggest leap forward in Microsoft's data platform history" -- shipping this summer in a public preview.

10 Takeaways from Microsoft Build

Microsoft believes Windows 10 will be big for consumers, and an even bigger opportunity for developers. The company trotted out nine more solutions that should keep developers busy.

Microsoft Build: Windows 10, Cross-Platform Development, Universal Apps Are Front, Center

The company packed quite a bit into a three-hour keynote that spanned the spectrum of Microsoft technologies and hardware. For developers, the emphasis was on cross-platform app building, with new tools built right into the next Visual Studio 2015.

Install Problems Reported in SQL Server 2014 SP1

Microsoft pulled its SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1 after numerous reports of installation errors.

Speed Up Your Application with Stored Procedure and Temporary Tables

Stored procedures can speed up your code by reducing trips to your database -- even if you only have one SQL statement to execute. Here's how to speed up your application (and how to simplify your stored procedure code).

Azure DocumentDB Goes Live

Microsoft announced general availability of its NoSQL service for developers and IT pros.

Data Platform Needs Foundation, Not Just Planks

As Microsoft continues to offer newer, more innovative data platforms in the cloud, the SQL Server flagship is languishing. Here's what Microsoft needs to do to ensure it moves forward.

Automatic Sorting for Your Collections

The .NET Framework has two collections that will guarantee your items are always sorted whenever you process the collection. Here's how to choose between the two and how to control the sort order (including supporting duplicate entries).

Subscribe on YouTube